Arthur's Bizarre Adventure - Part 1 Marble Curtain
by Rocko52
Summary: Stand users are flooding the once peaceful streets of Elwood City! As Arthur and friends begin to develop stands, they are dragged into a world much bigger than them; a world of stand arrows, serial killers, ancient conspiracies, and evil pet societies. When all is said and done, will Elwood City be left standing?
1. Chapter 1 - Arthur's Bizarre Day

Arthur's Bizarre Adventure - Part 1 Marble Curtain

 _Author's note - Excuse the batshit idea, I came up with this concept on a whim. There are quite a few places I plan to go with it, but I have no guarantees that I'll keep writing. So don't expect it to be that good, but I'll try my best. Constructive criticism is always welcome of course, please enjoy!_

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Chapter 1 - Arthur's Bizarre Day

 _ELWOOD CITY! An industrial settlement founded by a lumber tycoon has blossomed into a suburban paradise by the modern era! Elwood is known by many for its beautiful greenery, cheerful populace, and publically funded values (supported by readers like you)! With a population of 60,000 this idyllic town comfortably straddles the line between small town charm and big city excitement! It would appear to be perfect… HOWEVER! In the year 2005, Elwood would face its most trying times since the nineteenth century! It is with an impending crisis looming that our story begins - Arthur Read! An average boy, unaware of the drastic turn his life, and the lives of his friends, would take…_

Sunlight passed through the windows as birds tweeted about in the blue sky. Elwood City was looking as beautiful as always, a lovely day to go out and play. Unfortunately for the students of Lakewood Elementary Grade 3 Class B, there were still several hours left to school, and Mr. Ratburn showed no sign of letting up with his enthusiastic monotony. With a beaming grin, he stood in the front of his despairing class, holding a pointer at several indecipherable calculus equations on the chalkboard.

"Now class, what is the sine of two over pi on the unit circle?" He asked to the nauseated crowd. Buster Baxter, a bunny, raised his hand eagerly.

"Yes Buster?"

"Does the sign say that we can have two slices of pie?" The bunny sounded genuinely curious.

The momentary hope left his eyes when Mr. Ratburn coldly replied, "No Buster, I'm asking for the mathematical sine of the radian number two over pi, not some pastry."

"Awwww," Buster pouted, sinking back into his chair, while Francine and Arthur quietly chuckled next to him. The three friends were seated in the square of four desks nearest the back of the room the small class was divided into several similar four desk islands.

As Ratburn's gaze moved elsewhere, Arthur eased back. Listening to his droning on a day like today was pure torture. In just a few short hours, the world would be his oyster. Would he head down to the Sugarbowl with his friends, hang out at the tree house together, or maybe go swimming? Who knows, he could do anything. With a groan he glanced up at the clock hanging above the board. Still about two hours left.

Next to him Buster was already asleep. With the promise of pie gone there was nothing to keep him awake. Francine's eyes were on the teacher for the moment, but had already begun to glaze over. Glancing back to Arthur, she whispered "Do you know what we're doing after school today?"

Letting himself fall further over his desk Arthur could only reply "I don't care as long as it's not here." With that, the two of them resigned to fatigue. Francine rested her head against her arm and fell asleep, while Arthur's fluttering eyes kept loosely focused on the teacher.

It was in this blur that the young aardvark first saw it.

For a moment he thought he was imaging it, but when he repeatedly blinked it was still there. A strange little man was hovering by the window, looking right into Arthur's eyes with a wicked glint and a sly grin. He had a fat purple face, four beady eyes, a black bowl cut that looked like plastic, and metallic rotund body attired in a Japanese school uniform. He was holding a little notepad and pencil, not breaking eye contact with the stunned aardvark. Arthur let out a gasp and started to shake his friends next to him.

"Buster! Francine! Do you see that little thing over there?" He whispered in a tone more than slightly panicked. His drowsy friends looked around for a moment, before looking back with irritation at Arthur.

"I don't see anything Arthur, did it look like an alien?" Buster asked. This was followed by a slap on the back from Francine.

"Of course not Buster! There's nothing there at all Arthur's just being dumb!" she huffed.

"B-but guys!" Stuttered Arthur pointing now at the little man who cackled in response. "He's right there by the window!"

"Arthur cut it out!" Francine said. "This class is boring us to tears, but you don't need to play stupid games!" With a huff she went back to her resting position, while Buster shrugged and went back to snoring.

Sweat began to trickle down Arthur's face as he realized he was the only one who could see this little creature. When he looked back the thing, it was holding out a note it had written on its pad, "Hi! Arthur!" with a fanged smiley face. The thing then promptly tore up the sheet of paper and turned its attention to the rest of the class, looking around with a malicious smile.

Arthur started to slowly tremble in his seat, he had never seen anything as weird as this, could he be dreaming This little monster was right before his eyes and he had no idea what it would do! After a few tense minutes, the aardvark began to feel a bit at ease as the thing had stayed put. Maybe it was all a dream, and it would just disappear eventually. Arthur managed to look away from the little thing and turn his attention back to the clock. It didn't take long for his boredom to take center stage again, and he took to tapping his pencil against the desk.

Arthur's tired eyes wandered back to the window, and a sudden sense of dread arose in him when he saw that the thing was no longer there. He had momentarily forgotten how he had told himself it was a dream, all he could think about where it was or how it had disappeared. Arthur's bespeckled eyes began to search all over the small room. He looked up and down the green walls, over the desks, around his friends and on the floor. The little man simply was gone.

While still quite afraid, Arthur began to feel another additional pressure. Who knew what that thing's deal was, or what it might try and do! He wanted to wake Buster and Francine up, but he knew they wouldn't be of any help right now. He needed to figure out if it was still in the room and what it was doing. As his eyes kept scanning over the room, he finally caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye.

To his far right, at a different desk square, the weird little man was now hovering behind Sue Ellen, another friend of Arthur's. It was directly staring at Arthur again, its lips curled up menacingly. The thing leaned towards the girl's ear and began to whisper something. While he had no idea what it was up to or what it was doing, Arthur felt for sure that it wasn't good. He sprung up out of his seat and dashed forward towards Sue Ellen to try and stop the little creature, in the process hurling Buster and Francine out of their chairs.

"SUE ELLEN WATCH OUT!" He cried, as he leaped forward and tried to tackle the floating monster.

The whole class turned and gasped collectively, while Mr. Ratburn bewilderedly demanded "Arthur, what is going on?!"

As Arthur picked himself off the ground, he realized he had tackled Sue Ellen to the floor and that the creature was again gone.

"O-ow!" the girl said rubbing her bruised knee as she sat up. With a blush spreading over his face, Arthur replied "Sorry Sue Ellen I...I don't know what came over me…"

Getting to her feet Sue Ellen looked embarrassed, "Uh it's okay Arthur just...don't do that again please…" She awkwardly shuffled back into her seat, while Ratburn approached the stupefied aardvark.

"Arthur, I have no idea what the meaning of this is but I'm afraid we're going to have to talk about this after school!" Arthur looked back to Buster and Francine for support, but they both looked as stunned as he was.

"But it's not my fault!" Arthur protested. "There was this little man over there and -" The poor aardvark's stammering was interrupted by a chorus of laughter. Humiliated, Arthur made his way back towards his chair. Just as he was about to sit down, he realized that the strange creature was sitting on his desk. Before he could respond, the thing smiled at him and handed him a slip of paper.

Looking at that leaflet, Arthur saw the simple message "Sue Ellen has a crush on you." Again, before he could react the creature tore back the paper and shredded it to bits. With a flash of an even wider grin, the thing vanished into the air. Sighing with exhaustion and frustration, Arthur sank into his chair. This was going to be a long day.

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On the other side of town at the Elwood City Katzenelenbogan Airport, a private helicopter bearing the insignia "SPW" touched down on its own pad. As wind blew up around it, a small figure emerged from the vehicle.

"So this is Elwood City. Reminds me of Morioh, though that's not a surprise."

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2 - Koichi Touches Down!

_Author's note - I'm lazy by nature, so I refuse to put down a schedule for chapter releases/s Seriously though_ _,_ _knowing myself I really dunno how much or how often I'll keep going on this_ _,_ _I have lots of ideas and a general feel for where this is all going_ _,_ _but I don't want to have your expectations heightened in case I disappoint. So don't expect chapter releases to be this often_ _,_ _in fact I'd guess that longer waits will be the norm_ _,_ _likely up to a week. (maybe much more aha) But yeah_ _,_ _feel free to criticize or praise the story as you see fit_ _,_ _I love hearing constructive criticism! Thanks so much for looking at my horrible_ _,_ _batshit story!_

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Chapter 2 - Koichi Touches Down! (No Dignity)

As he took his first steps out of the helicopter, Koichi Hirose lifted his arm to block the sun from his eyes. It was a truly gorgeous day, despite the limited vegetation at the airport the breeze carried an air of lazy enjoyment. Everything about this city seemed perfect, it had plenty of memorable locations to idle away time, but not so many that is was overwhelming, and the populace's general disposition seemed almost irritatingly cheerful. Quite a lot like Morioh, even down to the population size.

Sighing, the small man looked down again at his briefing file. It certainly was like Morioh alright, and it would only become more so if he didn't act quickly. Flanked by two uniformed men from the foundation, Koichi made his way from the open airpad into a private docking building, where he could rest for a little. While smaller than the general exitways, the room he came to was quite comfortable looking, arrayed with magazines, newspapers, tourist phamplets, and plenty of refreshments. Koichi sat down on a leather couch while the foundation men went to the desk to sort out documents and such.

The stand bow used by the Nijimura brothers and Akira Otoishi six years ago had been stolen from the Speedwagon Foundation's Japanese Branch. Koichi didn't know all the details, but then again neither did the group. However, the most disturbing thing about the whole affair was that it seemed to be an inside job, that someone within the foundation co-ordinated the theft. The motive was unclear, but no matter the intentions an awol stand artifact was a Category 1 danger. A tracking device had been on the bow and its last known location was within Elwood City, a suburban town in New England, USA. While very fortunate, it was nonetheless puzzling that the tracking beacon managed to stay on the bow as long as it had, considering the thief was a foundation member.

Koichi sipped the coffee a steward had placed on the table. How nice, he didn't even have to ask the flight attendant had treated him just like a first-class passanger!

Stretching out a bit, Koichi felt a twinge of irritation about the whole situation. It felt like he was becoming the foundation (and Jotaro's) chore boy, whenever there was something stange going on somewhere, it was always him that got shipped overseas. It all started with that nightmare in Italy four years ago! Jotaro was always too busy with marine biology or foundation busywork apparently, but of course Koichi was always ready and willing to just drop whatever he was doing at a moment's notice without warning and be thrown halfway across the world on some dangerous mission that was pretty mysterious, no he alwaaaaays had time for that! Koichi sighed, he couldn't let himself get that worked up and self-pitying, this job was important very important. Letting go of some tension, he put his legs up on the table and unfurled a local paper, the Elwood City Times.

He was just starting to enjoy a piece about a recent celebration of the city's centennial, when a customs officer shouted out "Hey don't put your feet on the table! No dignity!" While it was likely a joke, that last comment sent Koichi over the edge.

"Well bastard, I don't see you getting flown to some backwater town in the middle of nowhere two continents away on an hour of sleep, huh? Maybe a guy in a private departure room who's done just that should be able to stretch his feet out for, oh I don't know a, second or two just maybe, eh?!"

The guy looked shocked to hear the such a pissed off rant coming from such a small guy, as a matter of fact, Koichi was a bit shocked too. Damn, he thought to himself, I really need some sleep!

"S-sorry," he stammered after the silence hung for a second. "I-I've never been to America before, and I'm kinda grumpy uhh..."

"Yeah whatever, kid" the officer shrugged after a second. If he didn't hold himself back at the last second, that little aside would have pushed Koichi right back into it again, but instead he just sighed to himself. He put down the paper and got up to be ready to leave. Suddenly the SPW flip phone in his pocket started to ring. As he reached for it in a flurry, the various airport staff scowled at him. While he knew the room was supposed to be private, Koichi got the feeling he had them pissed off enough, and shuffled into the family bathroom locking the door behind him.

Right before the ringing stopped he flung the phone into position and hit the talk button.

"Hey, this is a private phone number please identify yourself!" he said with a false confidence.

A gruff voice responded "It's me, Jotaro." Even though he was supposed to give an identification code, Koichi knew Jotaro wouldn't be bothered to do that.

"Oh hi, Jotaro! So I just landed in the city you told me about...what twenty hours ago, aheheh..." Koichi couldn't hide the slight irritation in his voice.

"If you're tired Koichi, just go to the hotel we rented for you."

"I can't until we're out of customs!" he sighed again, probably the third time in three minutes. "Can you tell me a little bit about this place, Jotaro, I've never been in America before but it seems like a pretty normal, nice town from what I can tell. The weather's gorgeous."

"Koichi, don't assume the town is normal so quickly. There are a few odd things about that place. Did you notice that all the citizens are anthropomoprhic animals?"

"Huh...now that you mention it I guess that's right. I almost didn't catch that."

"The town's also ridiculously safe, most parents seem okay with letting four year olds just run about wherever like they were teenagers. The most dangerous thing that can happen seems to be cutting your knee on some trash."

"That seems unlikely."

"I'm just reading through the reports Koichi. There's also been an oddly high number of famous people passing through for such a small out of the way town. Mr. Rogers, Yo Yo Ma, Lance Armstrong, Art Garfunkel, Neil Gaimon…"

"Neil Gaimon?! That is weird!"

"Besides all that though the town is completely normal." Koichi made a face at that last part. Yeah, emphasis on besides.

Jotaro continued, "But remember Koichi we're 77% sure the stand bow is in that town. It could be anywhere, you remember the Morioh Incident." Of course I remember it, Koichi thought, that's where I live! Still those words reminded him of the gravity of the situation, reading about the mission he hadn't quite felt that yet. Thinking back to the whole mess with Kira sent a shiver down Koichi's spine, a repeat of that would be horrific.

"Yeah Jotaro, of course. I'll start the search once I get settled, but I really do have to get some rest first. I'll speak to you tomorrow I think. Sorry if I'm sounding pissy, but I haven't slept in over a day."

"That's fine Koichi, but before you get off there's something else I need to tell you." A subtle shift in Jotaro's tone caught the little man's attention in an instant. For the first time in a while, that impenterable stoicism betrayed a bit of uncertainty.

"Even before the bow was stolen, evidence seems to suggest a high frequency of natural stand abilities awakening in that city."

Koichi's eyes shot wider than they had been all day. "WHAT?"

"Calm down Koichi. We have no idea what the cause is, but it seems like an inordinate amount of stands are being developed by local citizens. I don't know what or if it has to do with the recent theft, but things could be getting ugly in there. Keep your guard up, Koichi talk to you tomorrow." How like Jotaro to just end abruptly like that. There was no way Koichi would sleep easily now, exausted as he was. Sighing, he made his way back out into the room where the SPW men were waiting. They looked a little bit worried.

"Sir, we've encountered a bit of a problem."

"A wha-," Koichi mumbled his fatigue getting to him.

"It appears that some our luggage has been...stolen."

It just keeps getting better.

To Be Continued


End file.
